Fingerprints as Spatial Graphs: Nodes and Edges

Point-pattern matching of minutiae is the most common method used in fingerprint biometrics, but it is generally insufficient by itself. It has particular limitations in matching partial prints or in secure (biocryptographic) matching. Here, we add structure with a new spatial graph represention of a fingerprint, with minutiae as nodes. Using a sample of fingerprint graphs extracted from the FVC2002 database, we show that matching fingerprints using only the edges of the graphs performs almost as well as using only the nodes. Combinations of edges and nodes have superior performance to either individual score.